KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – You must be good at your job when they start naming crop varieties for you.

That’s the case with Dr. Fred Allen, who has been named a Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America for 2012. Allen was nominated by a colleague in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture with supporting letters from peers within CSSA.

The CSSA Fellow award is the highest recognition given by the society to its members. Fewer than half of 1 percent of the active and emeritus members may be elected to Fellow. The plant scientist has served as the major professor for nine Ph.D. and 21 M.S. graduate students, and has taught more than 1,400 students.

Allen is in his 37th year with UT AgResearch and UT Extension, and has served as UT soybean breeder and department head before his current position as UTIA Coordinator of the statewide Agronomic Crop Variety Testing Program. He is an expert in plant breeding and crop genetics, and has been involved in the development of 14 different soybean varieties grown throughout Tennessee and the southeast.

One of the varieties developed and patented by UT AgResearchers is named “Allen” for Dr. Allen, as a tribute to his contributions to agriculture. At first, Allen wasn’t too keen on the idea of having his name attached to the variety because that’s something that’s usually done posthumously, and he didn’t know for sure how well it would work.